


And the Darkness Calls Thee By Thy Name

by FireEye



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29290845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: Edgar drops in on Locke's investigation of the ruins beneath the desert.
Relationships: Locke Cole & Edgar Roni Figaro
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	And the Darkness Calls Thee By Thy Name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [azurefishnets](https://archiveofourown.org/users/azurefishnets/gifts).



The tapestry was over a thousand years old, and pristine. Almost like it was preserved like magic.

Most of the village surrounding the castle was like that. Houses laid to ruin, but pieces here and there in stasis like they were abandoned only halfway through yesterday.

As for the tapestry, it depicted a king of divine heritage conquering some force of darkness out of antiquity. A common enough story. Locke had rolled it up, folded it over, and sat on it while he was writing notes in the town square.

A distant sound made him raise his head.

His lantern only cast about twenty feet of light into the darkness. Everything past that was a dim shadow, and then nothing. The monsters that still roamed down here avoided the light... though at times he had to imagine if there weren’t darker things in this world than the Magi, out beyond the reach of his light.

Locke finished his sentence before he could lose his train of thought, and set out on another.

“ _Locke!_ ”

This time, he definitely heard it, from the direction of the castle. _Lost sounding_ , but familiar.

“Over here!” he called back.

Another spark of light appeared, approaching his in the darkness. He hadn’t expected _King Edgar_ to bother tracking him down personally, but then, Edgar had thrown himself into the thick of it since the war with the Empire started; there was no reason for Locke to see him backing down from that mentality now that the world had settled down again. If anything, he had too much time on his hands.

“I said _one fortnight_ ,” Edgar reminded him, strolling into his lamplight, “and you were supposed to check in.”

“Has it been a fortnight?”

“Try _sixteen days_.”

“Oh.”

“ _Oh_?” Edgar echoed. When Locke didn’t answer, he sighed and pressed, “I gave you a _watch_ , didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” Locke mused, “But it only tells me what hour it is, not what day.”

“And you couldn’t figure that out?”

“I got distracted and lost track.” Locke shrugged, still not looking up. “So throw me in prison.”

“I might just do that,” Edgar remarked. “I worry about you sometimes.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothin’.” Locke flipped back a few pages to check his notes, then forward again to resume writing. “I’m glad you showed up; I was running low on coffee.”

Edgar stared at him a long minute.

Locke flashed him a grin.

“You figure out what happened here yet?”

“Best guess? They took shelter in the castle. Then they got slaughtered. War’s the same, no matter what century you happen to live in.”

He fell quiet again, his journal going limp in his hand. Gently, Edgar touched his shoulder, and Locke shook himself out of it.

“And I, uh... I found some interesting antiques,” he added. “Books, too. Might’ve found a whole new old language, but you’d have to consult a linguist on that one.”

“That’s... something.”

Locke glanced up at him. Opened his mouth, then thinking better of it, sighed and toyed with his pen instead.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“ _Try_ me.”

Locke scratched the back of his neck. He didn’t look up again.

“...were you... down here last week? Any of you?”

“No. Why?”

“... nah, it’s nothing.”

“Locke.”

“Really, it’s _nothing_ – I just... couple of days, kept thinking I heard someone calling my name.”

Locke went right back to writing. Edgar regarded him quietly.

Then grabbed his arm, causing him to spill ink across the page. “ _Hey!_ ”

“That’s it, we are _leaving_ this place _now_.”

Locke made a grab for his tapestry, throwing it over his shoulder as Edgar dragged him back towards his base of operations.

**Author's Note:**

> The Ancient Castle was one of my favorite places in the game. (I inexplicably wanted to do something with it this past Yuletide, but I couldn't think what). Please take this. <3


End file.
